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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Samuel Gibbs

Everyone is downloading iOS 9.1 for the middle finger emoji

The middle finger emoji
Apple’s big new feature, Apple News, is a little overshadowed by iOS 9.1’s flood of new emoji, especially the rude one. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The holy grail of emoji has arrived. After years of fudging angry faces, aubergines and fists together, now you can tell people how you really feel with just one character: a middle finger emoji.

The disparaging digit comes in Apple’s latest update, iOS 9.1. Its biggest new feature for UK users is Apple News, which curates news from a range of different sources, including the Guardian, into a personalised aggregator.

But for most users the rush to install iOS 9.1 is really all about the new 150 emoji, and the rude one in particular. Many of the emoji have already been seen, as they are part of the Unicode 8 standard, not Unicode 9, but they’re new to iPhones. There’s a a taco, a burrito and a hotdog among the new offerings.

The update also brings bug and security fixes, plus a system that detects when you raise and lower your phone when taking Live Photos so shots of the air or feet are minimised. The security fixes, as with all updates, make it worth updating to minimise your risk from hackers.

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